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Hospital program makes sure mothers and babies get a chance to bond after birth

McKee Medical Center offers families skin-to-skin contact

By Joyce Davis For the Reporter-Herald

Posted:
05/11/2013 06:15:36 PM MDT

Audrey Steele admires her newborn baby boy, Mason Steele, as he yawns while the two snuggle at McKee Medical Center in Loveland on May 2, a day after he was born.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

About Skin-to-Skin Contact

Recent studies show that skin-to-skin contact provides important health benefits for babies, especially when given immediately after birth. Because newborns tend to be more alert within the first two hours of life, it provides an optimum time for successful mother and child interaction. Research shows it:

Calms and soothes the baby.

Helps the baby maintain a healthy body temperature even better than an incubator.

Helps regulate baby's heart rate, blood sugar, and breathing.

Improves baby's sleep and helps the baby breastfeed.

Lowers the mom's stress to enhance bonding and connecting with the newborn.

Improves mom's ability to make breast milk and to know when the baby is ready to nurse.

Skin-to-Skin Contactfor dads, too

A newborn can benefit from skin contact with the father if the mother is not available after childbirth.

In one study, half of the infants were placed directly on their father's chest after birth, and half were placed in a bassinet next to their father. The infants in the skin-to-skin group cried less, became calmer and reached a drowsy state earlier than the infants in the bassinet group.

Throughout time, in most cultures, it was natural for a newborn to be cradled on its mother's bare chest immediately after birth. That intimate moment disappeared with the advent of hospital births, after which the baby is taken away for assessment, medical treatment and cleaning before being returned to the mother.

Today, research shows a return to skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth is of benefit both emotionally and physically. The Cochrane Review studied 2,177 mothers and babies, determining that newborns placed immediately on their mom's stomach after birth interacted more and cried less than those who received usual hospital care, among other health benefits.

McKee Medical Center is ensuring skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth, much to the delight of moms such as Audrey Steele, who remembers complications following a long labor with her first son, Parker.

"Afterward, they whisked him away and I could only see him from the other side of the room," she says. "It seemed forever before I could hold him."

Two years later, on May 1 Steele and her husband, Ryan, welcomed their second son, Mason, under very different circumstances. Immediately after birth, Mason was gently laid on her abdomen and skin-to-skin bonding began.

"It was wonderful," she says. "He held onto my finger right away and I got a good look at him. When my husband talked to him, Mason turned to where his voice was coming from."

The two hours the couple spent with their newborn son made a big difference in welcoming Parker's little brother to the family. "It gave us time to bond and we felt more secure and calm," Steele says.

Christine Wride, registered nurse in obstetrics at McKee, says the first skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby helps regulate the baby's respiration, heart rate, blood sugar and temperature. "It works in tandem for both mom and baby. We try to initiate it within 1 to 2 minutes of birth."

Allowances are also made for women who have a cesarean section. "If there are no complications, we make sure the mom has immediate contact with her baby," she says.

If the mother needs other medical attention, skin-to-skin can also bond baby and dad. "Even if the dad can't be in the operating room, we can take the baby to him for that skin contact," Wride says. "It's highly recommended if for some reason the mom can't do it."

Dr. Ken Slack, McKee ob-gyn physician, agrees that skin-to-skin contact is important for the woman having a C-section. "Moms and dads want their baby right away to feel happier about the birth experience," he says. "It used to be that you were in a cold operating room, the baby was born, dad snapped a picture and then it was off to the nursery while the mom was being taken care of. You were sometimes hours away from holding the baby. Now, if the baby is healthy and mom is doing well, that skin contact happens right away."

Wride says traditional initial tests on the newborn can be delayed. "We can do assessments while the baby is lying on the mom's chest, so it's less stressful. The weight and length measurements can always wait awhile.

"I think you can tell the difference in a baby's cry when it's taken away immediately after birth," she says. "It's a sad-sounding little yelp as opposed to the first cry that clears the lungs. I call it the 'where's my mommy cry.'"

"Moms and dads have had a true gripe about us," he says. "Many of them often said, 'You medical people make birth so clinical.' While we gave quality care, we were losing that warmth they needed. Skin-to-skin helps us bridge that gap. It's a big improvement for all of us to have that warm, friendly atmosphere."

Seeing a new life come into the world is a joyful occasion, says Wride. "We never get tired of seeing a baby being born. They come out as clean slates with such promise for their lives. My favorite part is to watch mom and dad pack up the baby and take off in the car. I always think, 'Oh, another happy little family is going home.'"

The opportunity to bond with her newborn was important to Steele, who continues the skin-to-skin experience at home.

"To have my baby in that positive environment really meant a lot. It was nice to have a more holistic experience -- the human side along with the medical," she says. "I felt better and more ready to go home after that experience."

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